Chemotaxis. Do we understand it all?

Опубликовано 7 сентября 2016, 17:02

Chemotaxis behavior in microbes constitutes a simple form of behavior, making it an interesting model system to understand molecular basis of decision-making. More than 30 years of research in Escherichia coli has allowed a very detailed understanding of chemotaxis in this species and how it is mediated at molecular level. However, it is not clear how applicable these findings are for our understanding of taxis behavior in diverse bacteria. Results from few other bacteria show that both response dynamics and molecular mechanisms can differ from the E. coli paradigm. The talk will illustrate how an evolutionary approach could help achieve a more global understanding of taxis behavior in bacteria. In particular, we will explore the use of in silico evolution combined with detailed mathematical modeling to unravel the possible molecular mechanisms involved in taxis behavior of diverse bacteria.